John Barker (English footballer)

John Barker
Personal information
Date of birth4 July 1948
Place of birthHuddersfield, England
Date of deathDecember 2004 (aged 56)
Playing positionLeft back
Youth career
19??–1966Scunthorpe United
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1966–1975Scunthorpe United263(6)
Scarborough
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

John Barker (4 July 1948 – 2004) was an English professional footballer who made 263 appearances in the Football League playing as a left back for Scunthorpe United.[1]

Career

Barker was born in Huddersfield,[1] the son of former footballer Jeff Barker. He began his career in the youth system of Scunthorpe United, where his father was a member of the backroom staff, and made his debut in the Fourth Division as a 17-year-old, in April 1966 away at Bournemouth.[2] He scored the equalising goal with a diving header against Sheffield Wednesday as Scunthorpe knocked the First Division club out of the 1970 FA Cup. Barker suffered concussion in the act of scoring, took no further part in the match, and was unaware until afterwards that he had scored a goal.[2][3] He went on to make more than 300 appearances for the club before retiring from professional football at the early age of 27 to take up a post with the Forestry Commission.[3] He also played non-League football for Scarborough. Barker died in December 2004 at the age of 56.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "John Barker". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Norton, Michael (17 June 2007). "The Iron Alphabet: A–Ba". Scunthorpe United F.C. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Struthers, Greg (12 August 2007). "Caught in Time: Scunthorpe United, 1970". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 22 March 2011.